Discard Trope: Hiding Secret Keeper

Are you sure you want to discard this trope?

Created By: Westrim on May 25, 2012 Last Edited By: Westrim on July 17, 2014

Hiding Secret Keeper

They found out something awful and need to be found by the good guys so they can get info on the threat

Name Space:Main

Page Type:Trope

A character, usually a scientist with expertise in a particular subject, has in some way gained knowledge pertaining to a threat within the story, and out of fear at what they know or from the others that know, has gone into hiding. This presents a problem for the protagonists, since they obviously need to find out so they can stop it. They often turn out to be Properly Paranoid and either need protection or die shortly before/after they are found.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, Tim Marcoh is one of the state alchemists who participated in creating philosopher's stones out of living people. He was so horrified with the experiments the military forced them to conduct on the Ishvalan prisoners of war that he fled to a small country town and took the identity of Doctor Mauro. Later his extensive knowledge about the philosopher's stones ended up being an important factor in the battle against the Father and his homunculi.

It happens in Part 4 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with a little kid who finds out that his father is dead, and is being impersonated by the Serial KillerBig Bad Yoshikage Kira. The good guys are on the case, but the situation gets worse by the fact that, thanks to the bad guys' supernatural abilities, that learns the truth through him will die,

Film

In WarGames, Doctor Falken became a recluse when the military seized his project, and made it into a warfare analyzer. Young computer whiz David must find Doctor Falken, and convince him to help stop his number cruncher before it autonomously launches global thermonuclear warfare.

In the sequel, Falken fakes his suicide as a protest against the usage of the RIPLEY supercomputer (it's more complicated than that when Falken finally explains it, of course, but that is what the protagonists hear at first) and goes off the grid, reappearing during the mid-point of the movie to assist the Meddling Kids.

Anton, of the Enderverse'sShadow series, discovered the genetic modification that gave Bean superhuman intelligence and life-threatening giantism. His research was illegal at the time, so when the government found him out they conditioned him to get a panic attack whenever he tried to think or talk about his discoveries. This made it difficult for Volescu, whose experiment produced Bean, and later Sister Carlotta, who was trying to help Bean, to find out what Anton knew.

In the episode "Mind War", Jason Ironheart flees Psi Corps (and is hunted by Bester's Psi Cop team) after he figures out the implications of their experiments on him, which sought to develop telekinetic abilities that could work on microscopic levels—such as to block a coronary artery in a target of assassination. As the only one he knew of that had developed that far as a telekinetic (most high-level telekinetics were insane), his fleeing was mainly to keep them from gaining from the experimentation—but he also warned Talia of their goals.

The episone "Hunter, Prey" had Dr. Jacobs, who was the personal physician to Clark when he was Vice-President, fleeing Earth with evidence that the illness Clark claimed to have as reason to debark Earthforce One before it exploded at Io, was faked—a piece of evidence suggesting he might have been in on the conspiracy to assassinate President Santiago. Earth Alliance agents were hunting Jacobs down when he sought refuge on Babylon 5.

In the episode "Messages From Earth", Dr. Kirkish, a former archaeologist from the Megacorp Interplanetary Expeditions now on the run, had information on a Shadow ship buried 1000 years ago on Ganymede, which Earthforce Intelligence was seeking to reactivate. She sought the Rangers' (and Sheridan's) help to stop this from happening.

Happens often in The X-Files, whenever Mulder and Scully hear about a murder and a scientist who disappeared, it's usually because the latter discovered something that killed the former and is now on the run. One example would be Daniel Trepkos from the episode "Firewalker", who hides from his colleagues who have been infected by the Monster of the Week.

Another X Files guest-starred Tony Shalhoub as a scientist in hiding because a Freak Lab Accident has turned his shadow evil and it eats people. He spends much of his time in a bus station where the indirect lighting gives him a very light (and therefore very weak) shadow.

One shows up in an episode of Nikita, which is promptly justified as he is gunned downed minutes after the protagonists find him.

During the main storyline of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you have to find Esbern, a crazy old man who is one of the foremost dragon loremasters in Skyrim, in the tunnels of the Ratway in Riften. He's in hiding from the Thalmor because he is one of the last survivors of the Blades, the order that the High Elven fascists wiped out following the Great War.

Happens often in The X Files, whenever Mulder and Scully hear about a murder and a scientist who disappeared, it's usually because the latter discovered something that killed the former and is now on the run. One example would be Daniel Trepkos from the episode "Firewalker", who hides from his colleagues who have been infected by the Monster Of The Week.

Another X Files guest-starred Tony Shalhoub as a scientist in hiding because a Freak Lab Accident has turned his shadow evil and it eats people. He spends much of his time in a bus station where the indirect lighting gives him a very light (and therefore very weak) shadow.

Anton, of the Enderverse'sShadow series, discovered the genetic modification that gave Bean superhuman intelligence and life-threatening giantism. His research was illegal at the time, so when the government found him out they conditioned him to get a panic attack whenever he tried to think or talk about his discoveries. This made it difficult for Volescu, whose experiment produced Bean, and later Sister Carlotta, who was trying to help Bean, to find out what Anton knew.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, Tim Marcoh is one of the state alchemists who participated in creating philosopher's stones out of living people. He was so horrified with the experiments the military forced them to conduct on the Ishvalan prisoners of war that he fled to a small country town and took the identity of Doctor Mauro. Later his extensive knowledge about the philosopher's stones ended up being an important factor in the battle against the Father and his homunculi.

In War Games, Doctor Falken became a recluse when the military seized his project, and made it into a warfare analyzer. Young computer whiz David must find Doctor Falken, and convince him to help stop his number cruncher before it autonomously launches global thermonuclear warfare.

Would the 'War Games' continuation figure here as well? During the Time Skip between both films, Falken fakes his suicide as a protest against the usage of the RIPLEY supercomputer (it's more complicated than that when Falken finally explains it, of course, but that is what the protagonists hear at first) and goes off the grid, reappearing during the mid-point of the movie to assist the Meddling Kids.

In the episode "Mind War", Jason Ironheart flees Psi Corps (and is hunted by Bester's Psi Cop team) after he figures out the implications of their experiments on him, which sought to develop telekinetic abilities that could work on microscopic levels--such as to block a coronary artery in a target of assassination. As the only one he knew of that had developed that far as a telekinetic (most high-level telekinetics were insane), his fleeing was mainly to keep them from gaining from the experimentation--but he also warned Talia of their goals.

The episone "Hunter, Prey" had Dr. Jacobs, who was the personal physician to Clark when he was Vice-President, fleeing Earth with evidence that the illness Clark claimed to have as reason to debark Earthforce One before it exploded at Io, was faked--a piece of evidence suggesting he might have been in on the conspiracy to assassinate President Santiago. Earth Alliance agents were hunting Jacobs down when he sought refuge on Babylon 5.

In the episode "Messages From Earth", Dr. Kirkish, a former archaeologist from the Megacorp Interplanetary Expeditions now on the run, had information on a Shadow ship buried 1000 years ago on Ganymede, which Earthforce Intelligence was seeking to reactivate. She sought the Rangers' (and Sheridan's) help to stop this from happening.

During the main storyline of The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, you have to find Esbern, a crazy old man who is one of the foremost dragon loremasters in Skyrim, in the tunnels of the Ratway in Riften. He's in hiding from the Thalmor because he is one of the last survivors of the Blades, the order that the High Elven fascists wiped out following the Great War.

It happens in Part 4 of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure with a little kid who finds out that his father is dead, and is being impersonated by the Serial KillerBig Bad Yoshikage Kira. The good guys are on the case, but the situation gets worse by the fact that, thanks to the bad guys' supernatural abilities, that learns the truth through him will die,

In the Diversity Alliance arc of the Young Jedi Knights series, Bornan Thul, father of one of the Jedi trainees, finds the location of one of Emperor Palpatine's secret storehouses with a devastating plague that Diversity Alliance leader Nolaa Tarkona desperately wants. Thul is forced to go into hiding to keep the location out of her hands, which prompts her to hire bounty hunters to locate him or the storehouse.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy